Xbox Game Pass Adds 3 Games, Including a Day-One Title That Almost Didn't Make It

Pigeon Simulator and two other titles have just been added to Xbox Game Pass. In addition to being the only day-one release among them, Pigeon Simulator also stands out as the only November 11 addition to Xbox Game Pass that had previously flirted with cancellation.

Pigeon Simulator's path to release started in July 2019 and was anything but easy. The game was first announced in mid-2019 by Bossa Studios, best known for I Am Bread and Surgeon Simulator. Two years later, the project was re-announced by indie publisher tinyBuild, who gave it to HakJak Studios, one of its internal studios based out of Idaho. HakJak was then closed in December 2023 as part of a company-wide restructuring. At the time, a HakJak representative said that the fate of Pigeon Simulator had "taken an uncertain turn" as a result of the move, noting that the project's future was "unknown" and fully up to tinyBuild. The game was only confirmed to be alive and well in early November 2025, when Microsoft announced it as part of this month's Xbox Game Pass lineup.

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By  Dominik Bošnjak

Pigeon Simulator and 2 More Titles Join Xbox Game Pass

Pigeon Simulator launched as a day-one Xbox Game Pass title on November 11, at 9am PT / 12pm ET / 6pm CET. It arrived alongside two other games: Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris and Great God Grove. Neither of them were ever part of Microsoft's subscription catalog in the past, though Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris was offered as part of the Games with Gold program between May and June 2017. The Tomb Raider spin-off is also the only title from the November 11 trio that's available on the last two generations of Xbox consoles. However, Pigeon Simulator and Great God Grove can technically be played on the Xbox One via Xbox Cloud Gaming.

When Will Pigeon Simulator Come to Xbox Game Pass Premium?

When Microsoft restructured Xbox Game Pass in early October 2025, it committed to bringing day-one releases from the Ultimate tier to the newly introduced XGP Premium within a year. That pledge, along with practices established during the brief, year-long run of Xbox Game Pass Standard (which Premium effectively replaced), suggests that Pigeon Simulator will arrive on the Premium tier between May and November 2026.

New and Upcoming Xbox Game Pass Games With Confirmed Release Dates

Four more titles are currently confirmed to be coming to Xbox Game Pass during the remainder of November 2025. Three of them—Winter Burrow, Relic Hunters Legend, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7—are part of this month's Wave 1 lineup. The fourth, Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault, was recently delayed from October to November 19. That date also marks the latest point by which Microsoft is expected to announce the Xbox Game Pass Wave 2 lineup for November 2025.

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7 /10

Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris

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Top Critic Avg: 73 /100 Critics Rec: 38%

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Released

December 8, 2014

ESRB

T For Teen // Game Experience May Change During Online Play, Mild Blood, Mild Language, Violence

Developer(s)

Crystal Dynamics

Publisher(s)

Square Enix

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Action, Platformer, Puzzle

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